It's a miracle the "60 to 80" fires and explosions in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover didn't claim more lives, officials are saying today.

"If you told me we'd see 70 fires, I'd say you were a magician," said Paul Brennan from Lawrence Hospital EMS. "We were very lucky. … It's truly a tragedy, one did die" but he said many more could have also perished.

He said first responders were pulling people out of the city "as fires were erupting around them." He added: "The main goal was to get people out of their homes."

Hospital officials said they treated 13 people — young to old — with minor injuries to blast trauma and smoke inhalation.

One of the more serious cases was MedFlighted to a Boston hospital and one patient remains in serious condition.

Leonel Rondon, 18, of Lawrence was pronounced dead last night at Massachusetts General Hospital, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office said. Rondon was in a vehicle outside a home on Chickering Road when a chimney from a house explosion fell on the vehicle, Blodgett’s office said. (See today's coverage here…)

Five of those injured came in immediately after the 5 p.m. blast — and two of them were serious, officials said.

Officials say they don't yet have answers about what caused "60 to 80" gas explosions for Columbia Gas customers across three towns yesterday, but are focusing on getting people back into their homes as soon and as safely as possible.

"This will not be a simple process, but doing it right is essential to making sure everyone remains safe," Gov. Charlie Baker said. "At this point we've brought in and will continue to bring in hundreds of natural gas technicians to the affected areas over today and the next couple days. These technicians will deploy throughout neighborhoods to do the work they need to do house by house to ensure these buildings are safety to return to ."

The towns of Andover and North Andover have compiled a list of streets and neighborhoods that have the OK to return to their homes, which can be found on the town websites. (Here for North Andover and here for Andover.)

The situation in Lawrence is a bit more complicated, officials said, and requires a different strategy.

"The most important thing to know about what's going on in Lawrence is we are not allowing people in their homes," Mayor Dan Rivera said. "We are not allowing people in their yet if they're in South Lawrence."

Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said they don't know what the time frame looks like to get people back in their homes, but the people who live in the approximately 8,500 homes that Columbia serves have evacuated.

"From a public safety perspective, this incident is stabilized at this point all fires from yesterday afternoon and last night have been extinguished and are out."

Mary Markos covers Massachusetts politics and state government. She worked as a reporter for the Salem News, the Gloucester Daily Times and the Jewish Journal before coming to the Herald in May. Mary is a Massachusetts native and graduated from the University of New Hampshire.